TEXAS Paul - Out to Pasture - Healing

Resting heart rate was 48 this morning. Weight 160 lbs. Still 59 years old. Thinking about getting a Garmin GPS-enabled Forerunner for Christmas. $349.99 right now.

Reduced Prednisone to 4mg per day starting today. Ran at McNeil HS. 2.5 miles warmup with Daniel. His spirits were real good tonight. Then drills, then 2 800M with 200M jog, then 4 100M with 100M jog, then 1 mile cool down. Did warmup with Daniel, ran with Karen & Tam, then cool down mile with Karen & Tam. This workout left me feeling pretty good. Legs feel somewhat energized tonight. This is my 2nd week back at running.

Temp 90 degrees with humidity. Feel pretty good overall. Ran this evening on the gravel trails on the farm. Making sure I stay on track for 5 days running a week. Tomorrow run at Williamson County Park with Tam and Kent & Donnie's group.

Temp 90 degrees. Ran Williamson County Park. 2.3 warm-up miles with Tam on the mulch trail. Drills with Donnie's group. 2 miles with Donnie's group, 1.7 mile cool down with Daniel. Nice workout, 3rd day in a row this week. Overall the body is feeling pretty good. 3rd day on 4mg per day Prednisone, so far so good.

6:15 AM, Wells Branch trails, 74 degrees. Great conditions. Upper legs very stiff as I'm in my 2nd week of doing 5 days a week, and after running last night my legs were real tight this morning. Took it very easy, but really enjoyed the run. Ended up laughing at myself at the very slow times, but it still felt good to be out and on my target to get in 5 days this week. Next run will be Saturday's long run, either 10 or 13 miles.

As I ran this morning I was thinking of the runners doing St. George. I had run St. George the past 5 years, but didn't make the lottery this year. Maybe next year.

Ran 11 miles on the country roads here north of Liberty Hill, TX west of Florence, TX. Really enjoyed the run, with Lynn following me in my truck as a support team. I had drinks at the end of every mile. First 3 miles downhill, 4th and 5th miles mostly uphill, 6th mostly downhill, 7th mostly uphill, 8th and 9th generally downhill, and 10th mostly uphill. The pace was generally very easy as this finishes the 2nd week back to running 5 days a week, but I felt real good. Legs and joints (knees, hips) feel good.

Fastest mile was a relaxing 7:30. Slowest mile was 9:45 with the hills. I'm encouraged as I felt this run was smoother and easier than the 10 mile run last Saturday.

Wow, reading the St. George Marathon stories is so impressive. PR's everywhere with awesome times!! I hope I make the lottery next year.

Today is a day off. Age still 59. Weight 160, did body fat measurement at the YMCA last Thursday: 14.6%. Body fat goal for Boston next April is to be below 10%. Resting pulse as I woke in the morning: 49. Prednisone medication still at 4mg per day for one more week, then drop to 3mg per day. Muscles a little tight today after yesterday's run.

Ran at McNeil HS. Just did 7 easy steady miles, 4 with Tam & Andy, 3 by myself. All I'm trying to do is continue the 5 days a week running. Into my 3rd week of 5 days a week.

Also trying to figure out if the general stiffness and aches in my legs in the morning is from the ramp up of running, or from the tapering down of the Prednisone medication, down to 4mg a day the rest of this week. Next Monday drop to 3mg a day.

Ran at Williamson County Park. Ran 2 medium effort miles on the mulch trail with Ethan. Ran 2 easy road/trail miles with Daniel and Ethan. Ran a medium/hard mile with Tam and Andy. Then a cool down mile.

Called the doctor today about the sore neck in the mornings and aches in upper legs. He agreed I should raise the Prednisone medication back up to 5mg a week for a couple of weeks, then we will talk more. I will start the 5mg on Thursday.

Raised medication to 5mg Prednisone starting today. Neck and upper legs felt lots better.

Temp 90 degrees & high humidity. Ran Wells Branch north and south loops, twice each. Ran an easy pace just to get the distance in.

I was suprised by the heart rate being so high considering how easy I was running. I don't normally check heart rate, but after looking at the heart rate that Sasha had running St. George, I decided to start measuring my own.

When Sasha was blasting his sub 6 minute miles his heart rate was lower than mine today running in the heat, but running easy. I got up to HR of 168 while running an easy 8:24 and 8:52 paces, unbelievable. I'm going to pay a lot more attention to HR. My measurement method was a finger on the neck for 15 seconds at the end of a mile, then multiply by 4. I'm getting more serious about buying a Garmin 305 toy, so I can have a much better HR record.

Temp about 84 degrees. Heart rate was better than yesterday in the 90 degree noon temps. I didn't have any mile marker information on tonight's route.

Tonight HR was: Segment 1: 8:51 HR 152; Segment 2 8:41 HR 148; Segment 3: 8:49 HR 152; Segment 4: 8:46 HR 152; Segment 5: 8:47 HR 152; Segment 6: 8:55 HR 152; Segment 7: 9:01 HR 152; Segment 8: 8:47 HR 152.

Ran the road and sidewalk down to Parmer and around the block back over to Howard Lane and back to the parking lot at work, and then did an out and back past PN3 just so I could be sure it made at least a 4 mile loop. Then I repeated it again. Our I/T group did a patch tonight that I had to be back here at 7:00 PM to validate, so I did the run around this block.

Prednisone medication this morning: 5mg

Did the Juvenile Diabetes Walk at Dell Diamond and then walked the Georgetown trails with Lynn for about 1 mile. Saw Donnie O'Neil running on the trail. He said he was doing 10 miles at a 6:30 pace. He looked like the 6:30 pace was real smooth for him.

Temp 90 degrees. Ran McNeil HS. Easy running just for the exercise. Mile 1 8:58 HR 148; Mile 2 9:44 HR 148; Mile 3 11:05 with Daniel HR 144; Mile 4 11:28 w/Daniel HR 144; Mile 5 8:30 HR 156; Mile 6 8:00 HR 156; Mile 7 7:53 HR 164; (mile 3 thru 7 with Tam); Mile 8 11:06 cool down HR 148 w/Karen.

Prednisone medication at 5mg for PMR. Just trying to exercise the legs.

Temp 88 degrees. Ran Wells Branch loops. Easy running. Mile 1 9:48 HR 144; Mile 2 9:05 HR 144; Mile 3 9:05 HR 144; Mile 4 8:48 HR 156; Mile 5 thru 6.2 20:03 HR 160. Running cautiously just to work the legs. Prednisone medication still at 5mg for PMR.

Temp about 90 degrees, extremely high humidity. Ran at Williamson County Park with Donnie and Kent's group. 1 easy mile warmup with Andy and Scott on the asphalt road route. 3 medium hard miles on the track by running the straights hard and the curves easy. Averaged overall about 8 minute mile pace (9 to 10 min pace on the curves and 6 to 7 min pace on the straights). At the end of the last lap measured HR at 168.

Tam really enjoyed this run tonight. Also saw Daniel and he was in great spirits running with Donnie's group.

Nice temp about 70 degrees. Ran 4 easy miles on the trail on the farm. Mile 1 9:09 HR 140; Mile 2 8:48 HR 144; Mile 3 8:56 HR 140; Mile 4 8:55 HR 144. Legs feel pretty good.

Still on 5mg Prednisone for PMR. Primary focus is just to get out and run 5 times a week. Build on the base and when things get better with the PMR my base will be ready to push it for Boston prep.

Great Saturday run on the Town Lake trail in Austin. Met at the Austim HS tennis courts parking lot at 6:30 AM with Karen and Tom. Tom was only doing 5 miles because of the 1/2 Ironman he and Karen H. are doing next weekend, so we did the Congress Avenue loop with Tom, and then Karen and I did the 7 mile loop down to I-35 and back. Great temp about 70 degrees. HR at end was 140. Easy enjoyable run.

Had some great conversations about a giant woman I helped at work late Friday, and she told me that for an old man I was sure in good shape!! And Tom had a new guy who is training for his first marathon tell Tom that he probably wasn't an athelete, and then after reeling him in, Tom reminded him that he is doing a half Ironman this next weekend. The young guy ate humble pie. Tom reminded him not to judge a book by its cover. Now when he sees Tom, the young guy is asking questions rather than giving opinions.

Karen sprained her left ankle again today with about 1 1/2 miles to go. She had been in to see Dr. Spears a day or two ago about the ankle problem. I sure hope it heals okay. Lynn, Karen and I went over to Maudie's for Mexican taco breakfast.

We saw the stage setup at Zilker Park where Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones will perform today.

Temp about 75 degrees, low humidity, a beautiful evening to run at McNeil HS with Donnie's group. Did 2 miles easy warm-up with Daniel and celebrated his success on the 10 mile race yesterday, a PR and monumental success for his confidence. Also celebrated with Tam and Joe for a great race. And Donnie ran 10 miles at a 6:11 pace, an awesome race.

Ran 4 miles at an 8 min pace with Tam and Andy, taking turns to hold the pace at exactly 8:00. I paced us at 7:58, Tam did 8:00, Andy did 8:00, and I did 7:59. This was fun.

Then did cool down run with Karen and Tam. I felt very good tonight. Muscle isues were minimum. Still on 5mg Prednisone, but felt really good today.

Temp about 70 degrees. Went to the dentist this afternoon, and then went over to Williamson County Park and ran the mulch 2.1 mile trail 5 times. Did the loop in 18:50 HR 144; then in 18:12 HR 160; then in 18:27 HR 154; then in 19:01 HR 152; then in 19:38 HR 152.

I was done with the 10.5 mile run at 5:00 PM. This was a nice run and I had enough time to get in the distance. The rain forecast held off. I only had a few sprinkles fall during the run. Still on 5mg Prednisone.

Temp 86 degrees, high humidity. Ran Wells Branch loops 2 times each one; 2.2 miles north loop and 2.2 miles south loop, for the total 8.8 miles. HR pretty consistent at 156 to 160 depending on the uphill mile or the downhill mile. Ran between 8:34 and 8:50 paces, easy but with a little push. Sweat like a pig with the heat and himidity and sunshine. Still just building base. Still on 5mg Prednisone.

My Garmin 305 arrived yesterday. I charged the battery last night, and tonight I gave it a try running out the driveway onto Hwy 138, then west on Hwy 138 about 200 feet, then back, then back down our driveway.

The plot on the Garmin data did not show me actually on Hwy 138. It looked like it was off calibration about 20 or 30 feet. Also, the driveway and Hwy 138 are flat, but the Garmin showed 33 feet elevation gain, and 45 feet elevation loss. I'll have to see what to do about calibration.

Temp about 80 degrees. New Garmin 305 on my wrist. Ran the track at McNeil HS. First 5 miles alone, then ran 4 marathon pace miles with Tam, one easy mile with Daniel, one cool down mile with Karen.

The Garmin sure makes it fun to monitor heart rate and pace, and then to simply download the data to the computer when I got home.

Heart rate ranged from 156 to 163 most of the time, and then when Tam and I pushed it on the last 1/4 mile of our tempo run, HR went to 174. This is too much fun having the toy to play with.

I didn't run this weekend. At my ripe old age of 59 I realize I need some recovery days mixed in rather than trying to do 5 days a week running. I'm going to basically run every other day, but on the days I run try to make them longer, and then on the recovery day do cross training. Allow the muscle disorder to finish running its course and get off the Prednisone medication. Currently at 5mg a day.